>cannabis: huǒ-mácannabis: huǒ-má
Not a Chinese cognate
In the Vedic tradition, soma (Sanskrit: सोम, romanized: sóma) is a ritual drink[1][2] of importance among the early Vedic Indo-Aryans.[3] The Rigveda mentions it, particularly in the Soma Mandala. Gita mentions the drink in chapter 9.[4] It is equivalent to the Iranian haoma.[5][6]
Soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that literally means "distill, extract, sprinkle", often connected in the context of rituals.[9]
Soma's Avestan cognate is the haoma. According to Geldner (1951), the word is derived from Indo-Iranian roots sav- (Sanskrit sav-/su) "to press", i.e. sau-ma- is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant,[10] but the word and the related practices were borrowed by the Indo-Aryans from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC).[11][12] Although the word is only attested in Indo-Iranian traditions, Manfred Mayrhofer has proposed a Proto-Indo-European origin from the root *sew(h)-.[13]